87Calculation of normal weekly earnings

87 Calculation of normal weekly earnings

(1)  In this section –

excess hours, in relation to a person, means hours worked in addition to the minimum guaranteed contracted hours –

(a) prescribed in an award, industrial agreement or enterprise agreement which applied to the person during the relevant period; or

(b) under the person's contract of employment during the relevant period.

(2)  For the purposes of this Division, a reference to the normal weekly earnings of a person is to be construed as a reference to the normal weekly earnings of the person as determined in accordance with this section.

(3)  In calculating normal weekly earnings, regard is to be had to the principle that, subject to this Act, a person should receive no more than the person would have received if the person had continued in the person's usual employment during the period of incapacity.

(4)  In calculating normal weekly earnings, any component of the person's earnings attributed to overtime or excess hours is to be disregarded unless –

(a) the overtime or excess hours was or were a requirement of the person's contract of employment; and

(b) the person worked overtime or excess hours in accordance with a roster; and

(c) the pattern was substantially uniform as to the number of overtime or excess hours worked; and

(d) the person would have continued to work overtime or excess hours in accordance with the established pattern if the person had not been incapacitated or had continued to be employed after making his or her application for compensation.

(5)  In calculating normal weekly earnings, any amount paid to the person at the discretion of the person's employer by way of bonus, gratuity or other similar payment is to be excluded.

(6)  If, during a relevant period, the person has contracts of service with 2 or more employers, his or her normal weekly earnings are to be calculated as the sum of the average weekly earnings in each employment, as if his or her earnings under both or all of those contracts were earnings in the employment of the employer for whom he or she was working during the relevant period.